


find a way to compromise

by rexcorvidae



Series: scraps and drabbles [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Worried Tony Stark, i wrote this instead of the 5 page essay i have that's due in 4 hours, ned may and pepper are all mentioned but they don't make an appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 01:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16944426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexcorvidae/pseuds/rexcorvidae
Summary: Morgan's big brother has been asleep for nine days, and she has something important to ask her dad.





	find a way to compromise

**Author's Note:**

> saw this prompt on tumblr and this scene has been bouncing around my head ever since. hopefully getting it out will let me focus on my actual wip. peter is around 23/24 in this btw  
> (or the essay i have due in approximately 4 hours but yknow)

Morgan walked into Peter’s hospital room nervously, where, just as FRIDAY had promised, she saw her daddy sitting next to his bed. He had obviously been crying, but when he saw her he smiled and pretended he wasn’t.

“Hey, MoMo. You wanna come sit?”

She eyed the hospital bed warily. All the grown ups wanted to sit with Peter _all the time_ , and she didn’t get it. It was _weird_ to see him like that, in that ugly hospital gown with all those tubes coming out of him. It made her stomach sick. But she needed to talk to her daddy, so she nodded and walked forward, allowing him to pull her up into his lap.

“How you doing, kiddo?”

She thought it was kind of dumb that _he_ was asking _her_ that, since _he_ was the one who had been crying, but she didn’t bring it up. Instead, she shrugged, because when she’d tried to explain the tight-sick feeling in her tummy to Mommy and Aunt May, they’d both looked like they wanted to cry.

Besides, there was something important she had to ask her dad. And she felt kind of guilty about it, a heavy feeling low in her stomach, but it wouldn’t go away, and her daddy always told her that she could tell him anything.

“You’re Peter’s dad, right?”

He turned his head to look at her, considering. “Well, not by blood, but. Yeah. He’s my kiddo, just like you are.”

She looked down at her lap. Fought the urge to slip her thumb into her mouth, because she was _six years old_ , she wasn’t a _baby_.

“Can you make him stop being Spiderman?”

Her daddy looked sad, _again_ , and pulled her closer. “Do you want him to stop being Spiderman?” He asked seriously.

Her throat burned and her eyes stung as she tried hard not to cry, because all the grown ups were _always_ crying. Guilt made her want to throw up. Because Spiderman was a _hero_ , he _saved_ people, and she used to love that, but Peter hadn’t woken up in _nine days_ because of Spiderman, and all the grown ups kept whispering things about his “chances” and “survival rates” and maybe Spiderman was cool, but she would rather have her big brother back.

Her dad rested his chin on top of her head. “Oh kiddo,” he sighed, “Oh baby.” He ran a hand up and down her back in steady motions, even as she felt his chest hitch when he started to cry again. “Can I tell you a secret?”

She nodded her head, and the motion made tears fall into her lap.

“Sometimes I want him to stop being Spiderman, too.”

“Then _make_ him stop!” She exclaimed, not caring how her voice sounded teary and whiny. “You’re his _dad_! You make me stop doing things all the time!”

Her dad ran his hands over her arms, soothing her into laying back against his chest again. “I know, kiddo, but it’s… it’s different, with Peter.”

“Why?” She asked miserably.

Her dad sighed, long and tired, the kind of sigh grown ups made when she asked a question they didn’t want to answer. But her daddy _always_ gave her an answer, even when he didn’t want to.

“Well, first, because Peter’s a grown up.” Morgan snorted a little at this – Peter was the least _grown up_ grown up she knew. “And second because Spiderman is… Spiderman is Peter’s. And it’s not something I can take away from him.”

“But you made his suit.”

“Yeah. But the suit doesn’t make him Spiderman. The suit is just… extra. The outfit. The thing that makes Pete Spiderman is… well, it’s part of _him_ , y’know?”

She didn’t. Not really. Spiderman was cool, but he was _different_ than Peter. He never stuttered or stumbled, and when _he_ told her to do something there was never any room for a fun debate or argument. He always looked like he was ready to web away at a moment’s notice, and he never _explained_ anything to her, would just tell her to hide in that same, sharp way her daddy did when he was in his Iron Man armor and disappear before she could even ask what was going on.

Sure, it was cool when she saw him do things like stop a bus, or climb up walls, but he wasn’t _fun_ , or _nice_ like Peter was.

Her father thought about this for a moment, because he always really thought about her questions before he answered them.  “Well, it’s kind of like Santa. He’s still Santa Claus when he isn’t flying around and giving people presents, right?”

She gave him a flat look. “Santa Claus isn’t real.”

“Says who?”

“Jamie, from music. Her mommy is a pilot and she said that it’s impossible to fly around the world in one night.”

“Well, tell Jamie that her mommy is a kill-joy. Or, actually, wait. Don’t tell her that. She is, but you shouldn’t say things like that to people.”

She giggled a little, but the heaviness in her stomach quickly returned. Because if Peter was awake he would have made up a wild theory about how it _was_ possible to fly around the world in one night, and he’d take her down to his lab where they’d design a _super cool_ sleigh that was fast enough, and she still wouldn’t really believe it but she would a little bit, and he would pretend to be upset about her “lack of open mindedness.

But he wasn’t because some bad guys had _hurt_ him and now he wouldn’t wake up, and every time she saw Ned his eyes were puffy and wet, and Aunt May was pretending to be fine, but Morgan had caught her holding onto mommy and _sobbing_ and she was so, _so_ scared of losing her big brother.

“I’m scared,” she admitted in a small voice, “I don’t want him to get hurt anymore.”

Her daddy swallowed and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, rocking her back and forth gently. “I know, _piccola_. He scares me, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos fuel me, and i'm always down to talk about our precious sticky boi peter parker, so drop me a line in the comments or at my writing tumblr rexcorvidae


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